Yay for you, Kathy! Fagor is a very good brand of PC. I'm assuming it is a stove-top model?

First, read your manual from beginning to end, then...read it again!

Second, do a test to be sure everything is working o.k.: find in your manual the amount of liquid needed for the correct pressure cooking for your model and put that amount of water in your pot, seal according to the manual and bring up to correct pressure, making certain that all the locks, plugs, and seals work correctly. Then turn off the heat and let the pressure release naturally until all locks are released and extra pressure plugs release as well. When you are sure that the pressure is completely out of the pot, take off the lid with the inside facing away from you and empty the water in the sink.

What quart size is your new PC? I would make some soup or stew for your first recipe. Check the fill lines inside the pot and don't overfill the pot with the bulk soup or stew.

Here is a good web site for PC use. Have fun!

Teresa

Here is a link that might be useful: Miss Vickie's Pressure Cooking site

Lorna J.Sass has some good pressure cooker cook books. She was recommended to me on this site as the Queen of Pressure when I won a pressure cooker in the Canny Camp drawing. I recommend you get at least one of her books.

Teresa is right. Read the instructions. I found them essential the first few times I used my cooker. Her testing recommendations are also smart!

Also, remember that meat cooks down into very tender bites. I love it this way, but I remember a CF poster (don't remember who) who first used their PC didn't like how the meat turned out (think Beef Bourguignon or stew)

So I'm inspired. I think I'll head over to Amazon now and get Lorna J. Sass's book on Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure....

Make sure that your family knows that the pressure cooker gauge is PARAMOUNT to the use of the cooker, so they won't throw it away by mistake. (I just had to buy DD#1 a new gauge because one of her sorority sisters threw hers away in the house kitchen.)

Four things I do all the time in the pressure cooker: chili (before adding the beans), spaghetti sauce, roasts, and beef stew. I can do all 4 in the slow-cooker, too. AAMOF, one time I put a roast in the slow cooker and went off on my day - came home and discovered that I hadn't plugged in the darned cooker! So the roast went into the pressure cooker and got cooked that way!

I used to own 2 pressure cooker cookbooks. Now I think I only own the one that came with my pot. I tried a few of the recipes from another one and we didn't like any of them, so I gave that cookbook to the Friends of the Library Bookstore.

DonnaR/CA

Some of the newer models don't have gauges aka the "jiggler" that sits on top of the lid. Kathy, your new pot may just have a built-in gauge that rises up to indicate the build up of pressure.

T.

Ditto the Lorna Sass recommendation. I have 4 of her books, but if I had to limit it to one it would be "Pressure Perfect". There's a recipe for 'Curry in a Hurry' that I cook at least twice a month. I have a Fagor, the Splendid model, but it looks a lot like the Rapida.

Missvickie.com is a website with advice and recipes for newbies.

What I use mine for the most is pot roast, curries, and quick braises. Risotto in 7 minutes is pretty cool as well. Quick chicken stock, too.

After you use it a few times you won't need a strict recipe. What it excels at is making meat fork tender and juicy. I find that chuck roasts do very well in a PC. And cheapo pieces of beef, which often have the best flavor, can be tenderized into submission.

Osso buco can be done in less than an hour. Yum. Steamed artichokes in 12 minutes instead of 45. Quick chili that tastes like it's been simmering for hours.

Bon Appetit!

I love my pressure cookers. The main use is the simple art of cooking potatoes which I eat a lot of. Peel, quarter, toss em in and about 5 minutes of pressure and they're ready for mashing. No endless waiting.
Secondly I use it for cooking rice, with a basket insert holding some veggies for steaming at the same time. So simple.
Thirdly it's a beef stew cooking miracle. Forget the slow cookers it's pressure all the way for me now. Brown the meat, toss everything in and it's stew in about 25 minutes that tastes just as good as slow cooked imho.

Use it everyday, like I say, even for just the potatoes or turnip etc. So much quicker and once you get used to yours you pretty much know how long is long enough. Keeping an extra windup or electronic timer is handy. I have a couple of those. One fits in my pocket so if I go downstairs or something I don't forget.

Way in the back you can see my first pressure cooker. An aluminum Presto jiggler. I didn't know at the time it would discolor like it has, it was bright and shiny when new like chrome. It still gets used and parts are available everywhere but I've not had to replace any yet.

On the front right is a T-Fal with the pressure dial and pressure release, very handy. It' sometimes finicky getting the pressure dial right.

On the front left is my vintage NEVER used Presto in avocado and it's staying NEVER used LOL. I've got the booklet etc it came with from 1970.

And lastly my electronic pressure cooker takes all the guesswork out completely. I probably use this one the most now for rice and stews but I still use the stove tops regularly for boiling potatoes and such.

I have a six quart Fagor Splendid. I got it last year to replace a very old Presto cooker. I also have the clear glass lid, so I can use the cooker without the pressure lid if needed (like keeping things warm on the stove top). I just used it to make dolmathes (Greek stuffed grape leaves) for our Christmas dinner. It took only thirty five minutes, and both the uncooked rice in the filling & the grape leaves were tender. It's really great for these because the stuffed grape leaves aren't jostled about by bubbling, simmering water. I've been using an expandable steamer basket to lay the stuffed grape leaves on inside the pot, but just yesterday I ordered the Fagor stainless steel steamer basket and two replacement gaskets from Amazon.

As others have said, it's great for things like beans, pot roast & stew that usually require long, slow cooking. It's also good for some vegetables that might otherwise stink up the kitchen (like broccoli, etc.) And, again, as other have said, once you've used it a while, you'll get a feel for how much liquid is needed and approximately how long to pressure cook things.

Thank you so much for the recommendations! Teresa, I've read the manual about 3 times now because it doesn't make a d@@n bit of sense! They must have outsourced on that one. My background is in Technical Writing, so things like that drive me NUTS!

It's a 6 qt. and I already pressure can with my 23 qt. Presto canner, so I'm already familiar with the whole pressure and food thing.

Got a Borders gift card too, so I'm off to look at Lorna Sass cookbooks! Whoo-hoo!

Kathy

What everyone else said.

Risottos are PERFECT.

To add to Arley, the 'Curry in a hurry' uses Patak's curry paste, not powder. It is now a staple in my fridge

If Borders doesn't carry any Lorna Sass books (and I second Pressure Perfect), try addall.com for used.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pressure Perfect on addall.com, for CA

I wouldn't be able to cook if I didn't have a pressure cooker...Mine looks like the avocado Presto in the picture, but it's not green and has to be 45 years old. My favorite is cutting up round steak, dipping it in flour, brown it, add alittle water, salt, pepper, onion and any other seasoning you like and cooking it for maybe 10 minutes...It has to be the most tender meat I've ever eaten...Makes a darn good gravey, too....
Just make sure you don't try to take off the lid before the pressure is out...Years ago, an uncle tried to take the lid off his and ended up with potatoes on the ceiling...It can also be very dangerous! Enjoy your cooker, you're going to love it and wonder how you ever got along without it.....